Scouring the Business of Technology

Rise of Microkernel OS

Don’t count out RIM just yet. The recently unveiled BlackBerry PlayBook due out in early 2011 is an interesting catch-up in a fierce competition dominated by Apple and the Android ecosystem. Not only is it impressive but unlike WWE’s The Miz, this is truly awesome according to OSNews’ Thom Holwerda thanks to its microkernel OS called QNX. Now only if Phoronix can produce a benchmark pitting Linux versus QNX can we truly say which is really awesome! But microkernel-vs-monolithic kernel debate aside, the desktop market is tricky. Unlike the aerospace, medical and other industries that depend on mission-critical apps where life is at stake, reliability (and thus high-availability) is the name of the game for microkernel OS.

Reliability or performance, these are secondary to ordinary consumers. What counts is the well-rounded, seamless experience. Just ask Apple. Or Google.

If QNX would be available as open-source, that would be doubly awesome. For now, we just have to make do with Linux. This is not to say that Linux is lame. Far from it. Linux is great but due to its monolithic design, it’s getting more and more complex in time. QNX, on the other hand, is already proven where no toy operating systems dare to go (as Thom Holwerda notes).

Wouldn’t it be great if QNX rise to the challenge as a formidable desktop/tablet OS?